Blizzard Suing Creators Of StarCraft II Hacks

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As we reported last week, Blizzard have taken the extremely peculiar decision to ban players from playing StarCraft II for using cheats in the single-player game. This meant that, despite cheating no one but themselves, they were locked out of playing the single-player game. Which is clearly bonkers. But it’s not enough for the developer. Blizzard’s lawyers are now setting out to sue those who create cheats.

Gamespot reports that the megolithic company is chasing after three developers of hacks for “destroying” their online game. It definitely will be in violation of the end user agreement, so there’s a case. However, it’s a certain element of their claim that stands out for attention. They’re claiming using the hacks causes people to infringe copyright:

“When users of the Hacks download, install, and use the Hacks, they copy StarCraft II copyrighted content into their computer’s RAM in excess of the scope of their limited license, as set forth in the EULA and ToU, and create derivative works of StarCraft II.”

Blink.

Blizzard are claiming that copying elements of the game into your computer’s RAM is copyright violation. It’s so brazened that you sort of have to respect their moxie.

They are claiming damages because those who play the games with cheats will have an experience that harms their appreciation of the game, and in turn they may speak negatively of the game to others. Presumably they’re referring to those who create multiplayer cheats, as single player cheats would be too ridiculous for words.

“The harm to Blizzard from Defendants’ conduct is immediate, massive and irreparable. By distributing the Hacks to the public, Defendants cause serious harm to the value of StarCraft II. Among other things, Defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard’s legitimate customers (i.e. those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience. That, in turn, causes users to grow dissatisfied with the game, lose interest in the game, and communicate that dissatisfaction, thereby resulting in lost sales of the game or ‘add-on’ packs and expansions thereto.”

I’m a bit frightened that id will be suing me because I used to type IDSPISPOPD into Doom. (From memory, that.)

From the statement it seems that there were some multiplayer hacks (“Defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard’s legitimate customers (i.e. those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience.”).

And I’m glad to see them go after those hackers. No fun to play online against cheaters.

I hate people that make cheats for multiplayer. And I hate the people that use cheats in multiplayer.
But you can’t put in jail a dude that sell knifes because maybe some people will use these knifes to kill. Thats wrong.

The single player bullshit is just legal ass covering… or an attempt at it.

The cheats being sold are available to use outside of single player. They will affect the multiplayer game if activated during it. The company selling it though, figured it’d be safe if they put up a disclaimer : Only use it in offline mode. These cheats are intended only for single player use.

This doesn’t work though because they’re simply being two faced. The people banned weren’t using these cheats in offline mode. They broke the agreement they made with blizzard when they bought the game. It sucks that games are becoming more of a software as a service market, but it’s these people that drove it to this point. Blizzard is only protecting their property and can’t play the same game they used to in the past.

Would you call someone living in the ghetto rude for putting bars on the window and three deadbolts on their door? No! It’s necessary for the environment they’re living in. You blame the gangstas on the street for it. Why are we blaming blizzard for doing essentially the same thing?

Couldn’t have said it better. But I will add that Hacking is a Leach on the Gaming Community that hopefully will Respond Strongly to this Shot of Salt in the Eye. The Fact that they are Making Profits, Makes them an Economically Easier Target

I… wow. Okay, am I the only one who wonders why Blizzard aren’t suing themselves, yet? I’ll make my case for you, here:

Blizzard Entertainment (henceforth known as the Douc–I mean, the Defendent) is causing harm to the customers of Blizzard Entertainment. By pursuing actions which are widely and wildly unpopular, Blizzard Entertainment is damaging Blizzard Entertainment’s reputation. By suing the creators of hacks for single-player games made by Blizzard Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment is lowering the public esteem and opinion of Blizzard Entertainment, therefore, Blizzard Entertainment is damaging the potential of Blizzard Entertainment to sell future games and add-on packs. The damage caused to Blizzard Entertainment by Blizzard Entertainment by these unpopular activities is obvious. Therefore, Blizzard Entertainment is making a claim for damages to the amount of a bazillion damages, to be paid promptly by Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard Entertainment must also make a public apology to Blizzard Entertainment for endeavouring to sabotage Blizzard Entertainment’s relationship with its fans.

Grow-up, its not your product and you are destroying my experience period. Maybe once the rampant hacking is under control they can allow user-modified content. I can’t beleive you’re actually mad at the developed instead of the hackers, lol.
Grow some balls, pull that roll of quarters out of your drawers and talk to women instead of pretending your something you are not.

Fuck you, Blizzard. I can’t even turn on god mode in singleplayer without getting sued? If I give you money, I own your game. I can legally wipe my ass with it and set it on fire. I hope you get successfully countersued and lose a shitload of money.

This is probably the biggest reason I’m a console gamer. If I ever met the programmer who invented DRM, I’d grab him, hold him down, and shove a dry-rotted wooden broom handle up his ass until he suffered a seizure.

Not god mode. Hacks. HACKS. Third party software bought and installed to bypass the disabled achievements when cheating. You can still cheat away to your heart’s content, you just won’t advance your online profile in any way. seems fairly reasonable to me.

“Third party software bought and installed to bypass the disabled achievements when cheating.”

Actually, that’s not what they’re suing for, but maphacks and drophacks. As in, giving players full vision of the map in online multiplayer, and letting them make a server think a player has dropped from a game, giving the remaining people an automatic win.

@Mac: Granted, Walker did go a bit Gawker-network sensationalist with that last throwaway remark (and should be ashamed if himself) but really, how hard is it for people to click one link and read the gamespot article he sources – it makes it quite clear what’s going on.

All the people thinking this is simply an anti-cheater subject(and I am all for burning online mad haxx0rs alive and publically) forget that what is really happening is a game having so much control and supervision over EVERYTHING YOU DO that you cannot even combine what you paid for and bought with whatever usermade content you fancy anymore and become a criminal just for wanting to play nilly-willy-what-ifs cheat-sessions locally for your own entertainment.

In short: IP holders want to control everything you do and are allowed to do from A-Z, and it is getting worse.

so, um…by this logic, they could sue reviewers for giving their game a bad review, as the readers would “have an experience that harms their appreciation of the game, and in turn they may speak negatively of the game to others”?

They have a very valid point and, I beleive, case. Cheating destroys the average users on-line experience. Not only are they violating the end user license agreement they are costing the average user an enjoyable experience. This will translate into less sells (current and possibly future editions). This erosion of sales due to these “Hackers” ultimately costs Blizzard sales (current and future). I beleive then that Blizzard is well within their rights to sue these web-sites, especially since they are eroding legitimate profits from the company for personal gain. I personally have avoided certain games because of the rampant cheating and hacking with-in them.